Hi everyone,
My blog has been broken for a little while now and just got around to fixing it this afternoon. I kind of went backwards when I re-posted them so they are all a little out of order. But I put some of my favorites at the beginning 
Farmer Sadie
My grandparents had a corn farm. There were lots of other things grown there at different times, but while I was around, there were three main things. Corn, grass hay and tulips. The boys did all the haying and the tulips happened while I was in school, so most of my farm memories have shucking, selling and flossing in them somewhere.
They staggered the planting and planted different varieties so we were selling corn out of our farm stand in Beaverton from mid-July through late August. 12 ears for $1. From 8-5 the OPEN sign was at the sidewalk. People would park in the front field and sort through the wire baskets full of ears to find just the right ones. Some like them small and sweet, some like them older and starchy. Most people would pull back the husk and inspect every single ear. You wouldn’t catch us complaining. There is nothing worse than getting the kind of corn you DON’T like.
Grandma and the grandkids did the selling, and Grandpa picked. When we needed a break from the sun, we just put out a coffee can with a hole cut in the plastic lid for people to make their own change. And if the baskets were empty, just a few honks of the horn on the old Plymouth, and within minutes grandpa would emerge triumphant from the south field with a wheelbarrow of full baskets. Now that’s fresh corn!
If your family grows and sells sweet corn year after year, for 2 straight months, your whole entire life, you either grow to love corn – or you hate it. And my family loves it. We really can’t get enough of it. We wait for corn season with the impatience of small children. I have, on more than one occasion, picked immature ears and ate them raw in the field because I just could not stand waiting a minute longer! When we were little, Grandma would boil up a huge stockpot of fresh ears for dinner – maybe 10 and a time – and we would eat them with silent reverence, huddled over the kitchen sink. There just wasn’t any time for plates or talking. Though you might hear the occasional grunt of approval or give each other a mutual nod of understanding.
Once you get a hold of the good stuff, here’s what you do:
Peel the husks back away from the ear a section at a time. If you leave some of them attached at the bottom, you can grab them and the stem like a handle and break it off clean to the bottom of the ear. If that doesn’t work, carefully cut off the stem.
You don’t have to get too picky about the silks. If some of them stay on the ear, they will boil off. Cut the top off if there aren’t any kernels – it will help you fit more in the pot!
Boil in salted water to your preferred done-ness. I do it for 5 minutes, my mom goes 10, grandma goes 20 minutes. It you like them more crispy, boil less. If you have braces and need to cut them off the cob, boil longer.
After boiling – this is an important step – drain off the hot water and submerge the ears in COLD water for 5 minutes. This cools down the ear so you don’t burn your mouth and it keeps the kernels from shriveling up while you eat your first three ears. Warning: if you leave it in the cold water too long THE BUTTER WILL NOT MELT!!! Unthinkable.
Butter is absolutely required for the full corn on the cob experience. You got to swirl it around on top of the butter stick until the thing is deformed the butter is just oozing over the surface of the corn. Don’t be afraid to get sloppy here. I usually recommend one stick of butter each so as to encourage double-dunking J A little sprinkle of salt is pretty good, too though not required. A little cayenne can give a nice kick as well.
If you have more corn than you can eat at one meal, its better to cook it all up at once (the sooner the better) eat what you need, wrap the leftovers up in saran wrap or a ziploc and save them in the fridge until you’re ready. A minute or so in the micro (still loosely wrapped) and it will be as good as new. If you leave them uncooked, the sugars will convert to starch in a few days and it will taste like the corn you get at Chili’s. Not good and not right.
Several of you have asked, “What are those papery green tomatoes and what do I do with them?” Great questions. They are actually not tomatoes at all. Tomatillos (pronounced toma-tee-yos) are a wonderful little South American annual fruit that can be eaten raw for a burst of flavor or roasted for a unmistakable, savory treat. If you can get past the mystery of the Tomatillo (also called ground cherry), you will become instantly addicted!
First thing you do, peel off the papery wrapper. Then rinse off the stickiness in cool water. They have a tangy, lemony flavor so you can dice them into a salad (seeds are small and soft so don’t bother taking them out), or toss them into a stir fry. They are great roasted with bell peppers in a sandwich, or – my favorite – pureed into a sauce for my fish tacos, pasta or scrambled eggs!
4-5 large whole Tomatillo, husked and cleaned
1 large yellow onion, sliced into thin rings
5 Tbsp olive oil
Pinch of salt
4 Tbsp lime juice
3 Tbsp sugar
Preheat oven to 400˚. Place whole Tomatillo, sliced onion, olive oil and salt into an oven proof dish. Cover and roast in the oven for about 25 minutes. The fruit should be very soft and you’ll see a caramel-y sauce in the bottom of the pan. Let it cool uncovered for 10 minutes then pour every last drop – along with the remaining ingredients – into a blender. Puree until smooth. Keeps in the fridge for 2 weeks.
When most people think cherry tomatoes, they think of the plump little red ones you get on a salad. Those are definitely a garden MUST-HAVE! But there are actually many varieties of little tomato. They come in all colors and all have a slightly different flavor. I try to include about half “really ripe” and half “about to be ripe” in your shares so you can enjoy them all week long. Here’s a quick identification quick guide for you:
Sweet 100: the standard in red cherry tomatoes
Gold Nugget: yellow/orange color, medium sized
White Currant: no pigment, teenie-tiny, very mild flavor
Green Grape: greenish, large, and soft when ripe.
Yellow Grape: slightly oblong, thin skins
Black Plum: very large, purple & green, very tasty!
Pop them as a snack, toss them into a salad, roast them on the bbq or sautee into some pasta.
About this time in the season you are probably saying to yourselves, “What else can I do with zucchini??” Well, I have the answer! Tonight for dinner I made one of my favorite mid-week squash recipes. Here’s how it goes:
2 Tbsp olive oil
2 Tbsp butter
1 tsp kosher salt
2 medium squashes, sliced
½ yellow onion, chopped
9 oz pre-made fresh pasta
¼ cup crumbled Feta cheese
Melt the butter and olive oil in a large frying pan on medium heat. Toss in the squash, onion and salt. Toss to coat and put the lid on for 5 minutes. Take the lid off. After another 3-4 minutes the squash pieces should be caramelized on bottom. Turn over as many as you can and fry with the lid off for a few more minutes – until caramelized on the other side.
While the squash is cooking, boil up some salted water in a large sauce pan and cook the pasta according to the directions on the package. As soon as you strain it, toss another 3-4 Tablespoons of olive oil to keep it from sticking. Plate the pasta. When the squash is finished cooking, divide between the plates of pasta. Top with a little crumbled feta and dive in!
This works with any/all of the different varieties you’ll receive. If you get a squash that is a little on the larger side, scoop out the seeds first. If you don’t like Feta, use Parmesan. Use whatever pasta you have in the pantry, or the “home-made” kind. Toss in a little sage or frozen peas if you have them. It is surprisingly easy to make and super delicious!
My family is Finnish and English. Potatoes are a year-round staple in our kitchen. We take pride in being able to prepare roughly 35 individual dishes with potatoes, cheese, onions and milk alone. But it only works if you have varietal DIVERSITY.
Red Pontiac: Slightly waxy with red skins. These store very well for many months. Best boiled or baked into a gratin. Also make terrific home fries.
Yellow Finn: The Finns know their potatoes! This is a soft, buttery light yellow spud. GREAT mashed or boiled.
Fingerling: Flavor, flavor, flavor. These small oblong potatoes are about the size of your thumb. Roast them for a real treat.
Peruvian Purple: That’s what I said… PURPLE, inside and out. Great flavor and super fun for kids when mashed or baked.
This batch of taters are considered “New” potatoes; freshly picked and un-cured. You’ll see that the skins are very delicate (you can actually scrub them off – no peeling necessary), and they require less cooking time than you think. These young tubers are very susceptible to greening so store them in the paper sack in a dark, dry cupboard for up to a month.
My favorite root veggie! These were planted between rainstorms in February. Well… the first batch was planted in February. After the goats ate them, THESE beets were planted between rainstorms in late March. The have been fenced, weeded, watched, un-fenced, pecked at by the chickens and finally have grown to an eatable size. In your box you may find many varieties:
Chioggia – an Italian beet with red & white rings
Golden – yellow beet with a very mild flavor
Pacemaker III – large, red beet with no zoning
To BOIL: trim the stems, leaving about an inch of greens on the beet. Don’t trim the root and don’t cut/peel. Boil in salted water for 20-25 minutes until fork-tender. Now you can trim the root, top and peel. Chop and serve with butter and wine vinegar.
To ROAST: Preheat oven to 400˚. Scrub well and chop into 1-inch pieces. Toss with some olive oil and salt/pepper to taste. Roast on a cookie sheet for 30-40 minutes, until the edges are dark & crispy and beet pieces are fork-tender. Great for snacks!
This is the official Art Farm summer drink. When I moved here two years ago, the only things growing were thistles and mint. This year they are both still going strong, but at least we can make the best of the situation. Its Mojito time, baby.
6 fresh mint sprigs
4 tsp sugar
6 tbsp fresh lime juice
3 oz light rum
club soda
In a tall thin glass, crush part of the mint with a fork to coat the inside. Add the sugar and lime juice and stir thoroughly. Top with ice. Add rum and mix. Top off with *chilled* club soda (or seltzer). Add a lime slice and the remaining mint, and serve.
I found this recipe for Potato Gratin a few weeks ago and I’m officially IN LOVE! It is super easy to assemble and goes great with anything. I served it with grilled salmon, but it would work with a good steak as well. Several of the ingredients are in your cooler this week if you’d like to give it a try…
1 large fennel bulb
1 yellow onion, thinly sliced
2 tbsp olive oil
1 tbsp butter
2 lbs yellow potatoes (~4 large potatoes)
2 cups heavy cream
2 ½ cups grated Gruyère or swiss cheese (~½ lb)
1 tsp kosher salt
½ tsp ground black pepper
Preheat the oven to 350˚F. Butter the inside of a 10×15x2-inch baking dish and set aside.
Remove the stalks from the fennel and cut the bulbs in half lengthwise. Remove the cores and thinly slice the bulbs crosswise, making approximately 4 cups of sliced fennel. Sauté the fennel and onions in the olive oil and butter on medium-low heat for 15 minutes, until tender.
Peel the potatoes, then thinly slice them by hand or with a mandoline (I used the slicer on my cheese grater and it worked fine). Mix the sliced potatoes in a large bowl with 2 cups of cream, 2 cups of Gruyère, salt, and pepper. Add the sautéed fennel and onion and mix well. Pour the potatoes into the baking dish. Press down to smooth the potatoes. Combine the remaining 2 tbsp of cream and ½ cup of Gruyère and sprinkle on the top. Bake for 1½ hours, until the potatoes are very tender and the top is browned and bubbly. Allow to set for 10 minutes and serve. Yummmmy!
The season is winding down and spending some quality time in the kitchen sounds better and better. This weekend I made zucchini bread (page 64 in your cookbooks, some in your box for sampling), plum cake, tarts and jam. You’ve had some herbs in weeks past, but just as a reminder here’s what you can do with some of them:
Flat Leaf Parsley: Great in just about everything! This flavorful version of the curly kind is pretty versatile. Potato salad, every home made soup, on top of alfredo or the gratin from last week.
Oregano: Fuzzy leafed with a mild savory flavor. Perfect for tomato sauce or tossing into grilled veggies. Also interesting in a hearty salad.
Basil: 100% Italian. Basil loves tomatoes. My favorite is a tomato, basil and mozzarella sandwich grilled or broiled for some extra crunch.
Chives: I usually chop chives into my macaroni or shrimp salad in the summer, but in the fall its all about the omelettes!
Rosemary: Very strong flavor. Goes well with beef and chicken. Great for grilling. Also lends itself to bean soups and potatoes.
Farmer Sadie in her natural habitat
I bought a fixer-upper farm in Amity so I spend most of my time out here doing field stuff, animal stuff, baking/cooking, carpentry, etc. The best part of my day is when I check in with my chickens, goats and cats. They follow me around while I pick berries, weed in the yard and chase the gophers with a stick.
The farm is an unusual and entertaining place most of the time, so I am using this weblog to share some of it with all of you. It is part journal, part letter, part pressure valve. Please feel free to send me your comments, they will be included alongside my own.
Farmer Sadie
Amity, Oregon
